Grayson County TXGenWeb
Johnson
Cemetery
The Johnson Cemetery
The following information is intended to provide
a basic guide to the Johnson Cemetery. This information is based
on my Grandmother?s (Mary Johnson Davidson) written family history (dated
1948) and my Mother?s (Marion Christine Davidson Franklin) recollections.
For reference, I have provided a diagram of the burial
sites (not to scale). The seventeen burial sites are numbered for
reference.
1. Thomas P. (Price) Johnson: Born on
June 8, 1826 in Russellville, Logan County Kentucky. Died November
5, 1901.
Note: Little
is known about T. P. Johnson's youth in Logan County, other than he was
opposed to his Father's drinking and he left home at a young age because
of it.
In early 1851 he met the Dickerson family and traveled with them to Texas.
Tom married Mary Dickerson on November 5, 1851. He was 23 and she
was 15.
The
Dickersons and Johnsons first settled in Lamar County then moved to Kentucky
Town, Grayson County. Shortly before the start of the Civil War,
they had settled in the Cedar Mills area. The Johnsons moved onto
the land that is now Sherwood Shores II in about 1861 but did not purchase
the farm until 1868.
Tom
was active in the establishment of Baptist Churches in Basin Springs, Gordonville,
Post Oak Grove and Cedar Mills. His headstone inscription is a summary
of his Christian life. "Weep not, he is at rest, a sinner, saved
by grace."
Tom
died on his 50th wedding anniversary.
2. Mary J. (Dickerson) Johnson: Wife
of Thomas P. Johnson (1). Born on April 21, 1836 (on the same day as the
battle of San Jacinto) in or near to Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky.
Daughter of Thomas Jefferson Dickerson and Judith Parrish Dickerson (both
parents are buried in the Noel Cemetery, near Juniper Point, Grayson County).
She died November 20, 1920.
Notes: Mary Dickerson
was the daughter of prominent residents of Barren County Kentucky and the
descendent of some of the first families of Virginia. Her Second
Cousin, 3 times removed was Dolly Payne Madison, "The First Lady of the
United States". She was related by marriage to Presidents Washington,
Jefferson and Madison. Her 6th Great Grandparents, Dr. John and Sarah
Woodson, landed in Jamestown in 1619.
Her
happy childhood in Kentucky was a marked contrast to the difficult adult
life she faced as a frontier wife in Texas. My Grandmother?s history
is filled with stories of Mary's struggles to just survive and raise a
family during the war years and reconstruction.
"Mary
was a widow for twenty years. She read a lot, liked politics and
was a great admirer of Joe Bailey and William Jennings Bryant. The
year she died was the first year women were permitted to vote. She
couldn't be persuaded to vote, however. Dr. T.E. McKinney came and
begged her to vote but she did not believe in women voting". Mary Davidson
3. Horace J. Johnson: Son of T. P. Johnson
(1) and Mary Johnson (2). Husband of Jane Johnson (4). Born
December 31, 1857 in Kentucky Town, Grayson County, Texas. Died December
18, 1925.
Notes: Horace Johnson
went on his first cattle drive when he was 12 years old. He spent
his teenage and young adult years pushing longhorns up the cattle trails
from Texas.
In
1884, he made an agreement with his Uncle, Frank Noel, to make one last
trip up the Goodnight-Loving Trail to Denver. This trip was planned to
last three years. Longhorns had the unique ability to reproduce on
cattle drives so after three years of slow movement, the herd that arrived
in Denver would be much larger that the one that left Cedar Mills.
As a bonus for living on the trail for three years, Frank Noel promised
to give Horace the 50 acre tract of land that is situated on the west side
of the current Cedar Mills Road. After three years, he returned to claim
his bride, and his land.
4. Jane Susan (Mangis) Johnson: Daughter
of J. C. Mangis (buried in the Cedar Mills Cemetery, Grayson County) and
Elisa Biggerstaff Mangis. Wife of Horace Johnson (3). Born
December 6, 1860 in Hamilton County, Illinois. Died May 14, 1939.
Notes: Around
1878, J. C. Mangis brought his family to Texas from Illinois because a
doctor told him that his aged mother needed to move for her health.
Because
he had a passion for planting churches, he soon became a good friend with
Thomas P. Johnson who shared the same calling.
Even
though their fathers were good friends, Horace had never met Jane.
On the night before Horace was to leave on the three-year cattle drive,
they were introduced to each other at a social. They became instant
friends. Even though Jane was engaged to be married, she could not
help spending the rest of the evening listening to Horace?s stories of
his trail drives.
The
next day, as Horace left for the round up, he stopped by the Mangis home
to tell Jane goodbye. They laughed and talked about what a good time
they had the night before. Then Horace told her that, ?he believed
that if she were not already engaged, he would just come back in three
years and marry her?.
Jane
took the engagement ring off her hand and threw it into the fireplace and
said, "I am no longer engaged. If you are serious, I will wait and
marry you when you return". They made promises to each other, which
they kept.
When
they married in 1888, he was 30 and she was 27.
5. Mary Thomas (Johnson) Saunders: Wife
of Dr. R. H. Saunders and daughter of Thomas Johnson (1) and Mary Johnson
(2). Born in Blossom Prairie, Lamar County, Texas, Aug. 8, 1852.
Died in Denison, Texas February 27, 1881.
Notes: Mary's husband,
Dr. R. H. Saunders was a native of Memphis, Tennessee. After he returned
from the Civil War, nothing was left of his home and family so he traveled
west. He settled in Cedar Mills and married Mary Thomas Johnson in
1867.
In
addition to the two daughters that are buried in the Johnson Cemetery,
they had three other children Tom, Willie and Gertrude.
The
Saunders moved to Oklahoma where they ran a school for Indian children
and then settled in Denison. When Mary died in Denison, during childbirth
in 1881, the Johnsons brought her remains back to this cemetery for burial.
Dr.
Saunders moved his practice to Kentucky Town, Grayson County where he married
a cousin of his late wife, Blanche Parrish. Dr. Saunders died in
1907 and is buried in the Vittitoe
Cemetery, south of Kentucky Town.
6. Mary Saunders: Infant daughter of
Mary T. Johnson Saunders (5) and Dr. R. H. Saunders. Born and died
September 25, 1871.
7. Mary Catharine Saunders: Daughter
of Mary T. Johnson Saunders (5) and Dr. R. H. Saunders. Born September
26, 1875 and died July 15, 1877.
8. Frank R. Johnson: Son of Horace
Johnson (3) and Jane Johnson (4). Born October 13, 1891. Died
of injuries due to being thrown from a horse, December 23, 1904.
9. ?Blond? Johnson: Son of Horace Johnson
(3) and Jane Johnson (4). Born and died February 15, 1895.
Footstone marked "B. J."
10. Thomas J. Johnson: Son of Horace Johnson
(3) and Jane Johnson (4). Born October 2, 1888. Died from Meningitis,
February 4, 1892.
Note: "One winter,
meningitis took two of our family. That year, several died of meningitis.
It has been an epidemic three different years in Cedar Mills.".....Mary Davidson
11. George Johnson: Son of Greenberry Johnson
who was the Brother of T. P Johnson (1). Greenberry Johnson and his
family moved to Texas after T.P. Johnson and is buried in the Mount Tabor
Cemetery. George Johnson was the Husband of Julia Hester Johnson (12).
Born December 21, 1876 and died May 27, 1906.
12. Julia Hester (Mangis) Johnson: Sister of
Jane S. Mangis Johnson (4) and Wife of George Johnson (11). Born
August 2, 1877 and died 1962.
Notes: Julia
was 21 when she married on Aug. 21, 1898. She became a widow at the
age of 29 and lived as widow for another 56 years. They had one daughter,
Nettie. My mother remembers Julia as being an exceptional seamstress.
Once a year, she and her daughter would make an extended visit while she
helped sew the clothes needed for the family.
13. James Britt: Son of J. A. Britt and Dora
Hester (Johnson) Britt. Dora Britt was the Daughter of Horace (3)
and Jane Johnson (4). James Britt was born 1922 and died 1923.
14. Harold Britt: Son of J. A. Britt
and Dora Hester (Johnson) Britt. Dora Britt was the Daughter of Horace
(3) and Jane Johnson (4). Harold Britt was born and died 1924.
15. Mary Ellen Overstreet: Daughter of
Robert Overstreet and Ophelia Medora (Johnson) Overstreet. Ophelia
(aka. Dora and aka. Bubba) Johnson was the Daughter of T. P. Johnson (1)
and Mary Johnson (2). Mary Ellen Overstreet was born July 23, 1878
and died March 22, 1890.
Note: "Dora Johnson
married Robert Overstreet in 1876. Robert came from Kentucky and
was one of the early teachers in Cedar Mills. He later opened a general
store. He was in partnership with Governor Overton a few years.
In 1885 they settled at Elk, Indian Territory. This couple had eleven
children. Dora lived to be 86." - Mary Davidson
16. Cary Overstreet: Son of Robert Overstreet
and Ophelia Medora (Johnson) Overstreet. Ophelia (Johnson) Overstreet was
the Daughter of T. P. Johnson (1) and Mary Johnson (2). Cary Overstreet
was born September 13, 1884 and died April 3, 1885.
17. Lucinda Johnson (a.k.a. Cindy or
Sindy). Former slave of Mary Johnson (2). "Sindy" was born
about 1847. The 1880 Census gives her age as 33. Unknown date
of death. She is buried in an unmarked grave located somewhere between
the southeast corner of the fenced cemetery to the center of the current
road.
Note: "Sindy"
was given to Mary by her Mother, Judith Parrish Dickerson, as a wedding
present for the purpose of serving Mary as a maid. As far as I know,
she was the only slave who ever lived on the Johnson farm. After
the Civil War, she elected to remain with the family. When she became
ill, the family cared for her as one of their own until she passed away.
Her grave was not always unmarked. My mother can remember seeing
a marker when she was a child.
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